Step By Step
by of self
Summary: A series of events with a few speed bumps on the way which will eventually lead up to something huge. Derek/Casey. Multichapter. AU-ish. Complete.
1. Intrusion

This has sort of been languishing for a while in my folder half-written. However today I just saw Supernatural and got down to finishing this. Apparently, I will write like the blazes when I'm scared shitless. It's a multichapter fic based on one word prompts. I think I'm veering into angst territory here even though I meant it to be humor, no clue how that happened. Anyhow I hope it's decent. :)

Disclaimer - I do not own LwD.

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in⋅tru⋅sion - [in-troo-zhuhn] ; noun - an act or instance of intruding.

-

--in which there is an _intrusion_ of privacy--

-

She's doing the lather rinse routine for that perfect head of hair; all the better to snare boys with ( she hopes it will) when she suddenly lets out a piercing scream. Because through the semi-transparent shower curtains, she can vaguely make out a moving figure and it looks very much like Derek. The scream doesn't faze him and he continues brushing his teeth as if there were naked step-sister showering behind a curtain, so close to him.

She whips the curtain back a bit, enough to show her head but not enough to show her naked self and takes a deep composing breath before letting it all out.

"Der-ek! You pervert, I'm here having a shower!" That should do she thinks, the pitch is right and the decibel is high. And exactly as she imagines, Derek is startled and swears some words that shouldn't be heard by her delicate and pristine ears. But he recovers much too soon for her comfort.

"So?" he lazily asks and she must admit she's stumped. But then again she shouldn't be surprised because when did Derek ever know the meaning of bathroom propriety. Not before and certainly not now.

"_So_? Derek, I happen to be naked therefore I would like you to respect my privacy and leave," she says hopefully, appealing to his non-existent (in the case of everyone but Marti) compassionate side.

He laughs and she sighs. Well she at least tried. Now she'll try another tack.

"Derek, get out!!!" When in doubt, always scream. Because the shrill volume of the voice will drive away any right-thinking person even if they desperately want to stay. It's sort of like whining, you annoy the person enough even for them to want to go away. But she should have known it would not work because now he's calmly rinsing his mouth. He gargles and then straightens up.

"Casey, you are a sensible person. And if I did have any nefarious designs on your virtue, believe me; I wouldn't be standing in front of the mirror here. I would be _in there with you_. But since I don't roll the step-sister or the Klutzilla way, you have nothing to worry abut. I mean; you are as attractive as Max to me. So stop flapping around and finish your shower. I don't have all day and this hair doesn't look causally ruffled all by it self." And with that he begins shaving.

Casey gasps and then concedes defeat. She continues her shower, scrubbing a little harder than usual. So rude of Derek to insinuate that she is unattractive and a Klutzilla. She'll have you know she's very graceful, except that sometimes, she's a little unlucky and stumbles. And she knows she's a decent looking person. It's not like she's that hideous looking. And Max is pretty good looking once you get past his suspiciously orange skin. She consoles herself by telling herself that Derek has no appreciation for looks. He's just a blind teenage boy whose ideas of good looks are influenced by porn stars.

It worries her a bit that she takes his words so much to heart. Because it's Derek, every second sentence out of his mouth is a thinly veiled barb directed at her. She should be used to it by now.

So why should this one affect her so?

She turns off the shower and wraps herself in a big fluffy towel (securely) and steps out. He's sitting on the toilet seat, half-naked and looking much too self-assured for a person still half-asleep. She looks at him with what she hopes is a superior look because she is totally down with sharing a bathroom with him. Do you hear that, she's like totally down.

And there's no way his smooth chest is affecting her ability to think.

Pfft.

She has like no attraction to him whatsoever and he clearly thinks she is as attractive as a lump of coal. So it's all even.

And the blush blooming on her cheeks, it because of the hot water, not because of the way he's looking at her, neutral and observant. She intensifies the superior gaze and adds a pinch of condescending to it. Derek rolls his eyes at her and she resists the urge to kick his shin. Instead she just walks away, taking the high road.

Really, she's not a hideous person.

She isn't, is she?

-

Barring the morning's incident she doesn't meet Derek. However the first thing she asks Emily at school is if she's hideous monster to look at. Emily sighs and reassures her that she is not. She's had plenty of practice with it, Emily that is. And at moment, a very cute guy walks by and gives her an appraising glance which ends with a smile. She smiles back at him and sighs happily after he passes by.

She's definitely an okay looking girl. Derek's skewered opinion can go hang it's self.

She begins walking and is tripped up an errant foot, which she is pretty sure belongs to Derek and is preparing a scathing speech after the customary face-plant when the cute guy plays the knight in shining armor to her damsel in distress and rescues her from doing aforementioned face-plant. She's filled with fluttery feelings at his chivalry, so unlike some others she knows and she fails to notice Derek's twisted grimace in her direction.

Emily however notices and smiles.

-

She wants to finish this day on a high, which means she wants to avoid Derek and just squeal in the privacy of her room about Mark and his dark brown eyes and dark brown hair which just begs to be run through by willing fingers…so like Derek's she realizes with horror. The guy may not be a replica of Derek but he has the same colored eyes as Derek and the same hairstyle and hair color as Derek's. It pisses her off because really, this is just what she needs, a potential boyfriend whose looks remind her of her loathed step-brother.

_This is not good_. She needs to go to the room and vent.

She walks to her room feeling mighty pissed because somehow or the other, Derek is always at the root of her troubles. He's either the cause or the cause by effect. She throws open her door to find Derek sprawled out on _her bed_, with his dirty shoes on her pretty daisy and violet bed-covers. This is really too much. He first harasses her in the bathroom by just deciding to be there and calling her unattractive and now he's polluting her sanctuary and wait… is he reading her poetry book? She looks down at her clenched fists and examines her short polished nails. No more Miss. Nice Girl, the metaphorical claws are coming out.

"Spacey, you really should tone down on the angry feminist poetry. Makes you look like you need to get some. Wait, that is the truth, you do need to get some." He laughs and then sits up and tosses the book aside. That makes her fingers clench harder, digging into the soft skin on her palms.

"Anyhow I came to ask, who the heck was the idiot you were making doe eyes at?" She's astonished that he actually has the gall to continue his little rant.

"I shouldn't really be surprised at this. I mean its okay for you to harass me in the bathroom, trip me in school, treat my work like shit and then expect me to answer like nothing ever happened?"

He actually shrugs and then nods, and that makes her even angrier.

"And not only that. You shoot down my self-esteem which you know is not very strong to begin with and then come to _my room_, sit on _my bed_ and ask who I'm making doe eyes at."

"Now that we've established all my crimes against you, will you finally tell me?" he asks wearily as if he's doing this for her sake and not his. His callousness tears through her like a knife. Doesn't he even understand where she's coming from and that he's hurt her?

Apparently not because he's still sitting on her bed waiting for her to answer, with a smug smirk on his face. And that breaks her like the final straw on the camel's back does.

"Get the hell out of here Derek. I don't have to answer to you at all." And with that she takes him by the hand and roughly pushes him out and slams the door on him. She catches the look of surprise tinted with anger and hurt on his face, just before she shuts the door but she doesn't really care. It's an eye for an eye. She picks up her poetry book from the floor and sits down on the bed. It only takes a moment or two for her to break down.

Why? Why does he have to be like this?

* * *

Do feel free to point out any mistakes that are there.

And review please?


	2. Explosion

Thanks for the reviews people, they are very much appreciated. Um, this chapter was a little hard to write because Derek and Casey are being very confusing at this point of time. Just a warning that there's some choppiness up ahead that you might want to kill me for.

I stake no claim on the ownership of LwD.

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ex⋅plo⋅sion - [ik-sploh-zhuhn] ; noun - a violent outburst, as of laughter or anger.

-

--in which there's an _explosion--_

-

Derek has always prided himself on his ability to keep a calm head no matter what the situation. It comes from playing years of ice-hockey where being the captain means you cannot lose your head and beat the bloody shit out of a meat-head attacker from the other team who needs to prove his superiority on the human power scale by turning you in to mashed potatoes.

So instead what you do is you dance in circles around him, until Mr. Pumped on Steroids is dizzy with confusion. Therefore you show him that not only did you beat him on the evolutionary scale intelligence wise but also that at the end of the day, you definitely got the better deal while he got gypped because brawn is not always equal to brain.

That's what comes of being calm, it makes you smart. Also when you know an expulsion is imminent due to mega prank gone wonderfully right, it helps to stay calm. It throws off Lassie as it throws off other people.

But today he's mad. He's mad that Casey threw him out, he's mad that Casey won't tell him and he's mad that even when he's doing what she wants him to do, she refuses to co-operate. She wants a fucking brother, so he's trying to be one, never mind the fact that sometimes his hormones drive him crazy enough to hijack the bathroom when she's using it. Because it's either that or stalking her bedroom and he's not sure he has the courage to do the second one. Besides rudely disrupting her in the bathroom is something that could be attributed to his constant need to aggravate her. No one is going to make anything much of it. They'll chalk it down to his lack of manners and no one will be none the wiser.

He sardonically wonders if lack of manners can be classed under doing whatever your step-sister wants. And she wants him to be a brother with all of the wonderful attributes that go along with it. From whatever little he has learned he's pretty sure that's called being '_considerate_'.

And though she makes it nigh impossible, for chrissakes he's trying. He doesn't have much practice with it cause Lizzie and Marti haven't reached that age where they are dating and he's sure as hell's not going to let any boys near them, especially ones like him – because he knows his kind much too well.

But over Casey he has no control and sometimes it feels like he's watching a pantomime with cruelly tragic but funny end. Because all these boys, from them she expects the sun, the moon, the stars and they all miserably fall short, which brings her right back to where she started. And the light in her eyes which shines at the beginning making them sparkle and gleam such a pretty blue, it fades by end leaving behind a dull and glassy sheen every time this happens – which would be always. And every time he wants to shake her and ask her when did she start settling for less.

So he's doing his job – and mind you it isn't because of any sisterly feelings he might have towards her, to be honest they are the very opposite of sisterly – but she won't let him do that even. What does she want him to do? He cannot fathom how she lives her everyday life by not knowing what she wants. Because honestly her frequent mood swings with regard to him only make him think that maybe she needs to amp up her intake of Midol.

And now because he's mad, he's going to do something very drastic and stupid that will come and bite him in the ass.

But hey, he's all for living in the moment isn't he?

-

He does some covert recon work, asks around casually enough to find three bits of information that may not be relevant enough to anyone else but make perfect sense to him. Mark plays a sport, Mark wears a leather jacket, and Mark is smooth. In short Mark sounds like the boys he's known all his life. They try to emulate cool but what they don't really know is that throwing on a leather jacket doesn't define you as cool. It's the attitude you need to pull it off. And from what he's seen of Mark, he thinks Mark makes it work as far as the ladies are concerned but other than that Derek sees right through him. Mark's trying really hard to be someone he's not.

This would be funny if there weren't a defiant Casey in the equation, determined to prove him wrong at every turn about Mark even before he starts reading out a list of his, according to her, alleged faults.

He briefly wonders not bothering because for once he doesn't want to be involved in supposedly breaking up Casey and whoever. He's really tired of not pointing out that it is not he who spoils everything, it is she who sets herself up for heartbreak with her unrealistic expectations from someone who can't shoulder them. He's all for finding the perfect person but what he cannot and won't understand is why she picks these losers in the first place.

But then something breaks the promise of not interfering he had made to himself. Frankly speaking, he's sure the promise wouldn't have lasted long anyways. He's Derek and interfering is what he does best as far as Casey is concerned.

Its Mark two-timing Amy and Amanda and that makes him decide that maybe watching him crash and burn would be nice after all. Because one of the unwritten rules about being cool is not being an ass to other human beings. And specifically, two-timing is not a quality that's very appealing. It will not look good on the fictional resume that Mark has for college fraternity houses. Oh and by the way, cool isn't the way half these college idiots behave. Roofing someone's drink only proves that you are desperate and doesn't make you any better than scum. (He's just letting himself know that he always isn't the bad guy)

Derek smirks because the foibles of these kiddies who so desperately want to be cool really are hilarious sometimes. And he would be laughing harder if it weren't for the fact that Mark decided to mess with Casey.

Casey exists in that grey area of someone as important as family but not family. He'll never be able to class her in with family simply because then he'd have to go and commit himself in an insane asylum. Family having '_feelings_' for family is the kind of subject that will make him throw up spectacularly.

But then again she's important. And in a weird symbiotic way he knows that they both feed off each other in order to exist. Also they define themselves in relation to the other, though both will furiously refuse to admit it.

And there's also the bit where he's impressed by the fact that Mark actually has the guts to try out some shit like that. He's not going to commend it because it's the most foolhardy thing that Mark has ever done but you at least got to give the guy props for trying right? And Derek's fair if not anything else.

And even if Casey calls him out on all of this, he can always tell her was simply being a good brother( and boy does that leave a bitter taste in his mouth) and that good brothers _always_ sabotage their sister's dates.

He'll just leave out the part about said brother not even wanting to be brotherly because seriously how fucked up is it to be attracted to someone you call your sister?

-

Casey's on high alert for sabotage on his part and it's taking all of his ingeniousness to set the ball rolling. The first order of business is distancing himself from the whole thing because geez, it wouldn't help having his name written all over it in big bolded letters, now would it?

And one day he's really going to hell for this but he solicits Marti's help for this one. Because her word is law in this house of people who most of the times are strong willed but when faced with the will of Marti will bend over backwards to accommodate her. The perks of being the youngest are plentiful as well as nice.

Marti is only too happy to listen because as things go, she's got a whole different idea of who Casey should be with and it's surprising how blind Smerek can be sometimes. But never mind, by the time she waves her wand, both of them will never even know what hit them.

Next it's Ed and Lizzie' s turn and they are much harder to convince than Marti because over time Ed and Lizzie have learnt that associating with Derek only brings them trouble and they like their heads to stay on their shoulder and not be cut off by an irate Casey, thank you very much. He has to hand it to the kids, they make them so much smarter nowadays but this, this is all or nothing and he tells them that, using the right amount of persuasion in his voice.

He does pull it of cause hey, he's Derek, Lord of Lies and Master of Persuasion and at the end of the day's it's all for Casey and one more thing to throw back in her face if ever this whole carefully orchestrated plan should go up in smoke.

One thing his Dad always thought him was, keep all your bases covered and be prepared for all eventualities. Well, he's finally putting those life lessons to use, maybe just not the way his Dad wanted.

Well, what Dad won't know can't hurt him and even though it's making this curious ache start up in Derek's chest.

-

The night she brings Mark home, everything is a disaster. Marti gives him the third degree and despite the furry soft cat ears on her head, she can be pretty menacing when she's shooting questions at him with sniper like accuracy. Lizzie and Edwin work their magic and halfway through the dinner, Mark has to hurriedly excuse himself to the bathroom. Derek allows himself a tiny almost negligible smirk into his potatoes and thinks maybe next time he needs someone to aid him in his covert recon mission, Edwin and Lizzie would make able lieutenants. They'll demand a heavy price but he's sure they can work out some sort of the agreement.

Nora and George on the other hand seem a little oblivious and preoccupied. Under usual circumstances Derek would wonder but for this the more the lack of parental observation the better. By the end of the dinner, Mark looks pale and queasy, Casey's about to cry, Marti's smug and Edwin and Lizzie are a little worried that maybe they did go a bit to far.

And Derek, he's feeling a little too detached from all of this.

Because there's a feeling in his gut that maybe this time he did go a little too far. Ordinarily tears are inconsequential but it's the looks of guilt on Edwin's and Lizzie's faces that makes him feel like prize idiot.

This is what happens when's he angry because when's he's angry, he cannot think straight, let alone figure out the consequences of his actions. Because remember, there are always consequences.

Maybe he can flip the whole thing around on Casey. But there's a little voice in his head squeaking that the fault is his all alone and that there are _other, better_ ways of letting a person know that their boyfriend is Casanova without the charm or class.

It's his damned conscience.

-

After dinner he waits and waits and waits for the tirade against him that never never comes. Everybody has a smile plastered on their faces, especially Casey. The one on her face is wide (almost blinding and it hurts with its brilliance) and he would think there's nothing wrong except that she looks eerily reminiscent of a Stepford wife. And as anyone can attest, they are creepy.

The family disperses and he thinks that maybe, nothing's wrong after all and he ignores the guilt eating away at his stomach. He tells himself that what he did was right. And when you tell yourself enough, play it in a loop in your head really, at some point you begin to believe.

He's on the bed, trying to get rid of an image of a single tear rolling down Casey's face – that's so movie cliché but guess what, it works— because all this guilt is so not good for his constitution, when there's a knock at his door. He sits up immediately and expects Casey to come barging and yelling at him ( it will finally ease this stupid guilt) but all he sees is a scrap of paper, which has been shoved under the door.

He picks it up and reads three little words that make the room spin.

_I hate you_.

It's simple and uncomplicated and tears through his defenses, his pretences, his carefully plotted excuses like a knife and Derek suddenly sits down because he's feeling slightly dizzy, which is no way related to what just happened. And then he feels a telltale prickle at the back of his lids but of course he ignores it because once again, guess what?

Boys don't cry.

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If you were confused I'm sorry. I managed to confuse myself spectacularly too. Anyhow, I assure you there's point behind all of this which will eventually be made. And if there's anything you want me to explain, do ask. I'll try to explain to the best of my abilities. Also if there are mistakes do point them out. :)


	3. Resolution

I said I would update and I totally did! Anyhow a little meandering but I believe that's how our Casey rolls. Also this totally disregards most canon events of season four. :)

Playlist - John Legend - Ordinary People . This song sort of fits them very well. At least I thought so.

Lastly, thanks for the reviews guys, you make everything groovy. :) And no I dont own LwD.

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res⋅o⋅lu⋅tion - [rez-uh-loo-shuhn] ; noun - the act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action.

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-- in which Casey makes a _resolution. _alternate title can be read as; _denial _--

_-_

Casey's livid. Yes, there's anger leaking out of her every pore. She's that livid. And when it boils down to it Derek fu- no - freaking Venturi is at the root of it all. She has to remember that she is a lady and will not stoop to Derek's lowly standards by using such uncouth language.

He has the gall, the termity, the unmitigated audacity - oh yeah, she knows a lot of big fancy words and she's going to use everyone of them- to meddle in her affairs of the heart and then send her date packing without so much as a by your leave. This just oversteps the boundaries of polite behavior. This veers right into, homicidal maniac gone cuckoo crazy territory. (Sometimes her area of expertise, _only _sometimes though)

She doesn't get why he does this every time. If he's not sabotaging her boyfriends or would be relationships, he's dyeing her clothes in cornea searing or vomit inducing colors (think fluorescent orange or poop brown), stitching up the sleeve holes of her shirts or messing up her carefully alphabetized CD collection. It's like her neatly laid out life was made just so that he could wreak havoc on it.

And usually she can over look many things, indeed she deals with him insulting her day in and day out but this Mark thing really burns a hole in her. First of all it doesn't help matters much that he hijacks the bathroom while _she's_ in and does it while he's half naked, just so that she will lose all coherency of thought and then he actually sends a potential boyfriend packing, god knows for what reason. She has never sabotaged anyone of his relationships. She has encouraged them like any good sister would, even when she simply wanted to rip the bitch's head off. Especially Sally. Sally was the best of Derek's girlfriends and the one who had stayed with him the longest amount of time (she thinks Sally must have some superhuman endurance thing). Sally was a nice, kind girl who was intelligent not vapid, feminist but not of the bra burning kind, beautiful but not vain, in short Sally was perfect. And that's why Casey hated her all the more.

Because how was it possible to not feel to feel inadequate when standing next to this paragon of peerless virtue?

And though she feels so ashamed of it, she felt almost giddy with delight when they broke up. But that's beside the point. The point is that she never so much as lifted a finger to interfere in his matters except when she thought for sure he was going to be killed by Max's football buddy or when she thought that he was doing drugs or when…never mind. It's not her fault that Derek constantly keeps getting into trouble and she has to bail him out because she's conscientious like that and feels like it's some sort of sibling-y duty that she has to do (wants to do). Once more she's diverging. The actual point is that she never interfered with his relationships, except when he dated Emily, because she knew that was bogus for sure.

So what gives him the right to interfere in hers? Some hypocritical standards he applies.

(God, she takes a really long time to get to the point, she needs to be more succinct…more like Derek. Arghhh! Why is that everything always comes back to him at some point or the other?)

-

In the morning, she steps out of her room and steps onto something soft and squishy. She screams and jumps a foot in the air bringing Nora and George racing up with panicked looks on their faces.

"What happened?" George gasps his face red from the effort of bounding all the way up the stairs. Nora takes a look at George and sighs. She makes a mental note to cut down on all the red meat, greasy food and potatoes.

"I stepped on," she looks down to see what she stepped on and discovers it's a,"flower." She's mystified. Who left a tulip outside her room?

Nora and George sigh and leave. Their older kids' being such drama queens and kings is making them age faster and also grey faster.

She picks up the slightly squished tulip and gazes at it. It's a bright yellow and there's a small note attached to it with the word, 'sorry.' She grimaces, he certainly knows how to make apologies and as much as it wrenches her heart because_ hello_, it's Derek, he never apologizes if possible but she isn't melting. It's gone on for far too long and it's not just the chasing away boyfriends' thing but it's every little thing that he's done over the past four years. She's taking a stand even if she's not sure what's exactly happening inside her head and heart.

She knows for sure it's confusing though.

With Derek everything is always is.

-

At school when she finds Mark waiting for at the locker, she's thrilled to bits. He looks a little pale and wan but the important thing is that he's happy to see her. Clearly Derek's antics haven't scared him away and even if they did, he's very brave to come back and he must have done it because he saw something in the future for both of them. So she'll just go with the brave thing, okay? Okay.

It makes her so happy, that she flings her arms around Mark and hugs him tight. He lifts her up and swings her around and at that very moment, Derek walks past. Derek's smiling and she thinks maybe, she could forgive him but instead he walks right past her and it turns out that he's waving at Tinker who looks just as surprised as she is.

Can you say huh?

He does everything and then he just ignores her? Isn't he supposed to be groveling for mercy, begging to her find some compassion in her kind heart and bestow it upon him? Instead here he is, all jauntily walking towards Tinker and ignoring her.

She's a little annoyed with herself because Derek ignoring her seems to bother her more than him apologizing to her. There's something very wrong there. Derek may have never apologized to her but he always noticed her even if was only to make crass remarks about her lack of co-ordination or criticize her sometimes preppy dress sense or simply make fun of her keener like tendencies. The last one she doesn't get. Is it so wrong to want good grades? She thinks not.

Anyhow the point is with Derek ignoring her, she feels a little lost. She doesn't know how to define herself without Derek. With a great amount of horror she realizes she's suffering from an identity crisis which could prove detrimental later on in life because there's an identity struggle scale and right now she's at the top end of it which means she's floating and drifting which is not good because it means for sure that she wont know which course to take in college and then she'll jump from job to job and be perennially unsatisfied with her lot and end up being a failure and a disappointment to her parents. It would be a disaster for sure. And what will make it burn even more is the fact that somewhere or the other Derek will be rolling in riches, have a hot trophy wife hanging on his arm and will be laughing cruelly at her distress. She's convinced that this will be the alternate universe of her life. Which is why she needs to fix this identity thing, like right now.

She wrenches herself away from Mark's wonderful arms and tells him, she needs to go somewhere. She races off down the corridor, leaving behind a bewildered Mark, a smug Derek who knows that sometimes, ignorance is really the _best_ thing.

Paul Greebie doesn't know what's coming to hit him. But after having dealt with Casey for the past four years, he has a fair idea of what to expect. It's always something to do with Derek. And he's never been wrong on that count.

-

Casey bursts into Paul's office without preamble.

"My life is ruined." Paul is not sure how but he asks her to sit down and offers her a drink. Casey sits down and chugs down the glass of water(running down the hallways and simultaneously dodging the many obstacles in her way like the hall monitors, the teachers carrying books, the audio geeks with their audio equipment, it can all be _quite_ exhausting.)

"So what exactly did happen?"

Out tumbles the story of bathroom hijacks, boyfriends sabotage, attempted assassination of poetry notebook, ruination of her life, conspiracy against her with family members, crushed tulips with notes left outside of her room and the worst crime of all, _ignorance_.

"So Derek did this all?" Paul asks, trying to wrap his head around this long spiel. Casey gives him the 'duh' look. Of course, who else but Derek.

"So what is the problem?" Paul asks confused. Casey gives him another 'duh' look. Counselors are not what they used to be nowadays.

"I want him to stop."

"Only you can tell him that. Have you considered that maybe this is all just a plea for attention since it seems to be the only way to get you to notice him?"

Her mouth forms and o. She never did think of that.

"Thanks Paul. Problem solved."

Just like that? Paul Greebie is feeling a little winded. Maybe it's time for him to retire and go live somewhere deep inside the woods like a hermit with only a dog for company and a proper outhouse because otherwise, _ewww_. This counseling thing is making him feel like he's an old man who's _way_ in over his head.

Casey is definitely going to forgive Derek. But only after she gives him some special attention. Oh God, that sounded very dirty and delightful in her head but she totally doesn't mean it that way. She just wants to pay him back, in a way that he understands. And Derek understands...crap.

What's all with the innuendo suddenly?

Fine, she's going to prank him and then she'll forgive him.

Much better.

* * *

**Can be skipped over -**

Just a small fun fact - Casey's identity crisis freak out actually has basis. The more identity less you feel as a teen, the more chances there are of you not being able to make decisions about careers or sticking to one job later on in life . Actually there are four stages in this identity crisis thing which determine how you will do later on. Just thought you'll might want to know. You are always welcome to ask about it though or completely disregard this.


	4. Retaliation

re⋅tal⋅i⋅a⋅tion - [ri-tal-ee-ey-shuhn] ; noun - the act of retaliating; return of like for like; reprisal.

-

--in which Casey attempts a _retaliation_--

-

Casey makes a list. Not just any list but one that justifies, why exactly she needs to prank Derek before forgiving him. And it's locked away in a drawer that Derek doesn't know about. After school, she runs to her room and takes out the list and peruses it.

Number one, Derek by sabotaging Max was technically pranking her. A prank also is a challenge in a way. It challenges the powers that be by defying them. So therefore, she is allowed to retaliate. In the pranking world, it's all about equality, an eye for an eye, a cheek for a cheek, ergo a prank for a prank. It makes absolute sense. And the reasoning is also logically tight, so she can't get into trouble.

Number two, Derek has had it coming. For the past four years. This is to relive the frustration of being a continuous victim of all of his pranks. And she has the angsty poetry to show for it. Twenty freaking volumes worth of frustration. This is something like the suffragettes fighting for the right to vote. Derek was being the Alpha Male by pranking her and now it is time for her to become the Alpha Woman and show him, that she can do it too. (The pranking, the pranking, she needs to get rid of the innuendo which is infiltrating her brain!)

Number three, she _wants_ to do it. She wants to smirk like Derek, after a prank gone right. Yes, she wants to feel the power. (And really, it's only this one time. Promise.)

She puts the list back in and locks the drawer. One can never be too safe. She sits down before her computer and then sends up a prayer, asking the lord to forgive her for what she's going to do. She then cracks her knuckles and gets started.

One hour later she's done. She smiles in satisfaction. She is twenty kinds of awesome.

-

The next order of business is to clear the house as if it were on fire. Therefore she sends off George and Nora to a couples barbeque hosted by Emily's parents at the Country Club. Nora and George are only too happy to take a break. Next, she sends Marti over to Emily's house who has promised to keep her occupied with cookies, cartoons and her make-up set. A potent combination.

Then finally she sends Liz and Ed to the movies to watch a documentary. And yes, she gives Ed money to spend at the arcade. She tells them categorically, under no circumstances are they supposed to be back before seven o'clock. Liz wheedles some more money out of her and she grudgingly gives up the money she had been saving to invest in some blue eye shadow (Derek destroyed the old one, god alone knows why though.)

The coast is clear and now all she needs to do is wait for Derek to come home.

-

Derek comes home to find an empty house, except is really isn't. Casey's hiding in one of the cupboards in the living room to watch the following proceedings. Derek picks up the note on the table and grins. It reads, "_Derek, some_ _friends of mine are coming home, I'm at Em's house finishing a project, please can you keep them entertained. You owe me._" He reads the last sentence and the grin drops, at least she's talking to him though, even if it is via notes. That's definitely got to be an improvement over the silent treatment bullshit she's giving him.

Fine, he'll do it because he feels guilty. Not for her, but because he needs to feel better about himself. (Talking to her again would be an added bonus. He misses their snark.)

Casey stuffs a fist into her mouth to stop from giggling. Playing into Derek's guilt (the poor fellow just doesn't know what to do with it. He's just not used to it) was a brilliant idea. She mentally takes a deep breath and calms herself.

At four o'clock the doorbell rings and Derek supposes, that must be Casey's friend.

"Excuse me, are you Derek?" the person asks, very politely and Derek nods, equally politely. He smiles and completely floors the guy at the door. _Do come in_, he murmurs graciously shutting the door behind the guy, who must be around their age. Funny, Derek's never seen him a round. Maybe he's Casey friend from her old school. The guy sits down and Derek offers him a soda.

"Hi, I'm David. Casey's told me so much about you."

Derek does the customary, _Oh; I hope all good things_, shtick. He owes Casey and she won't forget to remind him about it ad nauseum. (Yes, he knows some big words okay. Casey says them and then he goes and looks them up. Cause he's a nerd sometimes. Don't tell anyone though.)

This David fellow scoots a little further to Derek with a gleam in his eyes. And Derek is suddenly all on alert. He slowly inches away.

"So Derek, why don't you tell me all about you?" David says with earnest enthusiasm and gazes into Derek's eyes sincerely. Derek is thrown off by this behavior. Is this guy for real? Which self-respecting guy talks to another guy as if they were both chicks?

"From Casey told me, I'm sure we could be such good friends." There's an emphasis on the word good and that makes Derek sit up straighter. Why in the world is this guy talking like this? It's making him nervous. This feels a little too friendly and David seems to be taking over his personal space. (So like Casey)

His eyes grow wide with realization. Someone talks like that only when…Fuck.

He's being hit on Casey's friend? Only that would explain those eyes, that tone, the inching close. He feels a little dizzy. What is with Casey and weird friends? Meanwhile David is still looking earnestly at him, expecting him to answer.

He shouldn't jump to conclusions. He'd just be like Casey then. And maybe he's just imagining things. So he composes himself and answer's David's earnest, earnest question. He talks and talks and it's an outpouring because he doesn't know why. Its Casey this, it's Casey that, it's Casey everything and somewhere along the way, he's not sure he's speaking to David anymore. He's talking to himself, like he does when he's up in his bedroom and hearing Casey's breathing through the walls that that never seem too thick.

He doesn't see David's face fall and he definitely can't hear Casey's almost close to hyperventilating-breathing in the closet. It's only him in his own little world.

-

Casey can't believe what she's hearing and she somehow feels guilty because she isn't supposed to be hearing this. This feels like infringing on Derek's innermost thoughts, the ones that he never reveals and ones she always wonders about. And because he's unburdening to a complete stranger and she really needs to abort this mission because it's snowballing out of control.

She lo-likes him enough not to want to hear this completely. And she knows that deep inside her that he would do the same for her. It's what they are best at, repressing any emotion that would prove detrimental to their dynamic by never even letting it see the light of the day.

It's the way they work and it's comfortable and makes them feel like they are normal and functioning.

She never meant for a torrent of words to come pouring (intensely personal ones), she just wanted retaliation and this isn't retaliation not by any stretch of imagination. She sends a message to everyone else that was supposed to come and asks Emily frantically for a distraction because she needs to get out of this cupboard before she suffocates on everything she hears from Derek's mouth.

Emily luckily enough answers and doesn't ask questions (she knows by now and thinks they are crazy but will eventually, hopefully figure it out).

-

When Derek finally stops and looks at David, his face is flushed and he looks the most vulnerable he has ever felt. How could he not, he just went all out and said everything that he's been hoarding in for the past four years. David himself doesn't look that enthused and politely excuses himself and leaves after bidding Derek goodbye. Derek watches him go a tad regretfully, he would have eventually warmed up to him and maybe they could have been buds. Casey would have been happy then.

Emily calls with a Marti related emergency and he bolts out of the door after which Casey bolts out of the cupboard still hyperventilating. He doesn't stop to think that Casey is there and Casey only just realizes she's supposed to be there, at. But it's too late to do anything and she just hopes Emily will make up some excuse.

She's going to lay off the pranks for a while.

-

Emily is clever in the way that teenagers are and when Derek comes bolting into her room, wild-eyed and breathless, she calmly informs him Marti has lost her Mr. Bear and if he doesn't want doomsday to come upon them, maybe he better buck up and help them find Mr. Bear and calm Marti down. She also doesn't forget to tell him that Casey has gone to get some notes from Alicia. She's all about a job well done.

In only took her two minutes to convince Marti and Dimi to act like Mr. Bear is lost. It's all a fun game with a different purpose and intent and Emily even feels a little guilty about what she has to do. But it's for the greater good, for everyone's sanity and she will really go out and do plenty to good deeds after this. Deception too is all a part of the game.

Besides like she said, it for the effing greater good, on the same level as trying to achieve world peace.

It has to be done.

-

Derek comes back, exhausted and tired with a cheerful Marti in tow. She's through if not anything and she led him all over the Davis's house for a pretty goose chase, unknown to him of course. Besides she did catch a faint hint of what all this is about and she also likes to take an active part in the proceedings and facilitate things.

The moment Derek enters the house, he stops and Marti walks right into him, Mr. Bear and toys and all.

"Smerek, you're in the way," she says accusingly and sidesteps him. Meanwhile Derek continues, he knows Casey is in, just like he always knows when Nora is making gumbo. The air is tinted with pine-freshener and Casey's aqua perfume. (The kind he likes, it's not overt or flowery, it's just perfect and fresh and it makes his nose tingle)

But right now he's tired because confessions and searching missing teddy bears can be quite draining, emotionally and physically. So he sends Marti to her room and goes to his room. He needs to flush his brain and remove the Casey that's branded all over it. It's making it mushy and he sometimes cannot think straight.

Because when there's Casey in his head, he feels like he's under severe duress.

-

He's lying on his bed like always and contemplating a move to a Casey free zone because she's not good for his constitution or his digestion and he's afraid he'll get an ulcer. And for god sakes, he's only eighteen and not sixty and he shouldn't be worrying about anything, except college. (Cause he really does care and he does want to be something. And yeah, like every other thing in his life, it has something to do with Casey)

Alternately he's also wishing she'd just say something because actions do speak louder than words and all this hate is getting to him.

It is then that a there's knock on the door and there's a scrap of paper that's been pushed under it. He groans out loud because this whole note thing is getting annoying. Is this how she's going to communicate for the rest of the time that they live together in the same house? Cause if that's the case then he's so going to have to make one of those grand scale apologies that George has to do when he forgets his and Nora's first date song. (A frequent occurrence and George has the florist on speed dial) And he's not looking forward to that cause eating humble pie in front of everyone is never nice.

He picks up the note and reads three words that make his head spin, it's like the last time all over again and this time he hopes his tear ducts won't accidentally leak because he has no excuse this time. Dust bunnies were the last one and Nora made him thoroughly clean the room after that, so even allergies are out of the question.

_I forgive you_.

He can taste something sweet, sugary and delicate on his tongue and it feels like happiness intermingled with relief and hope.

He's so hijacking the bathroom tomorrow.

* * *

Um, there must be a term for chapter snowballing out of control. It would apply to this chapter. I had a plan and this chapter kind of threw it to the winds. Sorry for the confusion. I can only wring my hands pathetically over it so much. It's kind of eating at my brain and refusing to be written any other way.

reviews would be helpful and do point out mistakes which you find. :)

By the way did anyone else see the new HP movie and think Rupert Grint is beginning to look droolworthy? He did make me sigh with happiness. (It was the muscles)


	5. Stagnation

stag⋅nate - [stag-neyt] ; verb - to stop developing, growing, progressing, or advancing.

-

--in which Derek and Casey _stagnate_--

-

Ever since the whole prank gone half wrong (unknown to Derek) and the sudden confessional (known to Casey) things between them have exist in limbo. It's a polite give and take because there's so much fear about what will happen if they make one wrong move and step out of the ordinary and mundane. It's not like they are expecting major fireworks but it's just a fear of the unknown which has them in it's vice grip.

She talks , he listens ( never insults), she listens when he talks ( and there are no snide remarks) and the whole family sitting at the dinner table watches these exchanges with trepidation, half expecting one or the other to cave and return to their normal selves. They don't expect it; they want it, even if it's like asking judgment day and the apocalypse to come all at once.

But that's the problem.

They have never been normal. They are Derek and Casey, and they are abnormal and it's their thing.

And for the first time, normal is not what they need, it's the abnormal to balance this awkward give and take, which is really to bland and dreary, so unlike them.

It's almost like they are not living and have been replaced by pod people.

-

In the night she lies on her bed, forcefully closing her eyes and everything that he said replays itself, automatically. She picks everything apart and dissects every word, trying to find meaning in something she feels she'll never be able to comprehend, the dynamic of being them.

It's always like this. She plots revenge and that too of the dastardly kind and then he comes traipsing along and reveals everything in that heart wrenchingly vulnerable manner of his and all her plans go down the drain, up in smoke, whichever metaphor tickles your fancy. (And he's even making her doubt if she knows her metaphors well!)

But sitting in that cupboard, she heard everything she always though would come from someone else's mouth. And though she secretly did hope that someday it might come from his mouth, now that it has come, she does not know what to do.

It's like getting all the ingredients for a crème brulee and then not knowing how to make it.

(Now he has her spewing lame food metaphors. Will this torture never end?)

She wipes out all thoughts of him or at least tries too because there's never a moment when Derek is not in her thoughts and tries to go to sleep because the _night is the mother of council_ or so said Tsarvena Maria, wife of Andrei the Archer, who by the way is a Russian fairytale character.

Is it a sign of madness that she's quoting Russian fairy-tales?

If so, then she blames Derek.

Because when in doubt blame Derek.

-

Things have never been this bad. How so one might ask. Well for starters he's finds himself unable to hijack the bathroom. It's a tragedy of truly epic proportions that he just cant stride in there in his pajamas and then sit on the toilet seat and pretend not to squint through the not very see through shower curtains.

Once again one might ask, albeit rhetorically, why?

It's not because the sky is so high (god, his humor has sunk to god-awful levels, somebody smite him in the heart.) It's because he's afraid the moment he see's her, he'll deliver a confession that will shame him for the rest of his life, cause haven't you got the memo? Derek Venturi does not do sentimentality in any form, verbal or physical. Sometimes there's the mental but that's reserved for Smarti purposes only okay and maybe Casey.

Screw it all, okay he does the mental sentimentality thing for Casey but letting her know of that is the equivalent of dropping an atomic bomb.

The scars will forever stay.

Also he can't even bring himself to barge into her room. He thinks of – _gasp _– knocking. Damn that stupid David for asking him stupid questions and making him lay out everything and drawing him out of a shit load of denial.

Because in his head, Casey was in the department of 'never gonna happen'. A person has to be blind not to see the amount of animosity she has for him. It can be calculated in truckloads. She hates him pure and simple. And she keeps harping on how he's not a brother.

Well, he's fucking trying, but it's kind of hard when he's hijacking her bathroom just to look at her through the shower curtains, half boiled with drops of water running down her body and hair plastered to her head.

(It's the stuff of fantasies and daydreams.)

Cause how fucked up is that he likes her and she wants him as a brother? Very much. So much so that even he with his sometimes hazy morals knows this is not the way things are supposed to be.

And it's in moments like these that he hates her so much that he loves her. Because she makes him question himself and fills him with a self-loathing that nothing will dispel, not even Marti's sweet assertions that he's the best person of the world.

He hates her so much that he loves her and he hates himself so much that he wishes she would love him.

(He even asked Santa and he even was a good boy. Do you know how hard that was? Of course the wish not being granted taught him that wishes never come true, fairytales don't exist and reality sucks.

Welcome to the real world.)

-

She can't sleep. She tried really hard. But it's a little difficult when Derek plays in her head in glorious Technicolor, complete with that wonderful head of hair, which is always artfully mussed to look like it just happened by accident.

And contrary to what Tsarvena Maria says, the night isn't the mother of council. Screw her, she probably never had to deal with someone like Derek, what with having a nice husband and magic at her fingertips and all.

His confession, it strikes a chord in her. Because all these years she's been thinking she's the one that's wrong, because he treats her like she doesn't even exist and she thinks that at least if she can ask him to act like a brother, maybe he'll just talk to her more and like her and treat her as someone who he see's and maybe then she can think that is' finally okay to like him.

Because it's easier and it's less heartache to like someone when they at least know that you exist right?

Because pining, _that_ darling is _so_ over-rated.

(But doesn't change that fact that she still pines, every single fucking moment of her life. That she _has_ been pining for the past four years ever since she saw him in a tuxedo at the wedding, of her mother and _his_ father, making them step-siblings.

And finally because she's always been a little behind the times.)

-

They are still in limbo and they know that each won't make the move because they are waiting for the other and because courage is on a low because vulnerability is on a high.

They talk, they live – but not really – and they exist and all the time, there's a sound of something cracking and it's not their hearts.

That's the sound of fragile glass like hope breaking, _little _by_ little_.

* * *

I'm in limbo about this, just like they are. This is the half part where I don't know what to do know but I know where I'm going. Does that make sense? Please don't kill me. By next chapter, I will make sure I'm out of this frakking limbo.

Oh and the quote comes from the Russian fairytale, 'Go I Know Not Where, Fetch I Know Not What.' It's a nice tale if you have the time or inclination to read it. :)


	6. Confrontation

con⋅fron⋅ta⋅tion -[kon-fruhn-tey-shuhn, -fruhn-] ; noun - a meeting of persons face to face.

-

_--_in which Casey experiences a_ confrontational_ conviction_--_

-

She's never been one for seeking a confrontation, at least not actively. She's scared of it cause the last time she actively confronted someone, especially in her old school, she got shoved inside her locker and avoided the hallway for the next to weeks. You see, she learnt her lesson. However with Derek, it's a different thing as is every other thing. With Derek, confrontation is a given.

He does something, she confronts him, he snaps sarcastically, looks oh so handsome, tries to confuse her, sometimes does confuse her, and she yells, storms out of his room and then slams the door of her room. It's a very well established pattern and sure as the earth revolves around the sun, they do their thing.

-

It's been a week and she hasn't even heard one peep from him, not one word at all. And it annoys her and worries her cause this silence is deafening and annoying and so oppressive because it sits on her chest and weighs her down and cutting off her ability to breathe. She hates it and it's all his fault because he never ever let her have a moment of silence and she's just so used to him talking and filling the silence, even when he's not talking.

She sits on her bed, chews through her nails, until all the remains are a mangled mess if neatly manicured nails and then makes a decision.

She's going in and if not words come out of her mouth, she'll just bolt out of there like a bat out of hell and take on a vow of silence which she will never break for all her life and then she'll join a cloistered convent and never see the outside world and sit in her tiny little boxy room with it's sparse furnishings and weep over him and have everyone think that she's weeping for all the suffering and evil in the world in the world.

Whew.

Her imagination just ran away with her there with no one to nip it in the bud. She doesn't want it to come to that but it would definitely make his insides churn with guilt if it came to that.

It's a very satisfying feeling.

-

She tentatively knocks on his door, doesn't wait for him to answer and enters anyways. He's lying on the bed (and she thinks that these days, at least this part week, that's all he does because her room is right next to hers and the walls are thinner than paper and all she can hear is him breathing in and out, slow and rhythmic.

It soothes her and terrifies her, alternately.)

"Derek." This isn't her voice so scared and timid and she can hardly believe she's even standing upright, let alone breathing because _doesn't he know_, the silence is crushing her.

He still doesn't reply and she can feel the sweat beading on her lip, tiny little drops and the blood rushes in her ears, thundering and churning. Okay, she is not a wimp but she is kind of feeling faint now. She wonders if she falls, will he spring up and catch her or will he just leave her on the floor in a crumpled mess. Knowing him, it could be any of the two. Because it's Derek and he makes his own decisions.

He stands up and dear lord, he's coming closer and closer and he's taking up her oxygen space, dammit. She inches backwards and he inches closer and she can see a faint stubble around his jaw and suddenly she drops into a chair—because he weeks knees are protesting and wont hold her up any longer and he's looming large over her.

"Yes, Casey." His voice is silky and smooth and the ground is fast slipping out from under her feet, metaphorically because she's sitting and all. But it's time to take it back and be all Casey –like. Meaning, even if she's shit scared she's not going to show it and let him feed of her fear, like some weird...alien? She's not sure that's the word she's looking for but what's in the details?

"Derek." She counters firmly, pushing him back, standing up and backing him all the way into his own bed. Surprise is evident on his features but he masks it quickly lest she sees it but she sees it anyways and she smirks because she learnt from the best and now the student is teaching the master or something like that.

"Why are you not hijacking the bathroom anymore?" she demands and she can tell that the question has thrown him visibly off kilter and he doesn't really know how to reply.

"Because you said so." He hazards vaguely not sure of what the hell is happening. He just wants to protect his balls, just incase he's in danger of having them chopped off and one can never really be too safe as far as the junk is concerned.

Casey's mouth purses in a grim line. By the time she is done, he'll know damn well what is happening. She's going to make sure of that.

"Since when do you listen to whatever I have to say?" she asks skeptically and you really can't blame her because when has Derek ever done something that doesn't involve him benefiting in some way or the other. She'll tell you, almost never.

Derek sits up and Casey draws his computer chair nearby and sits down. It is evident that they have shifted into the territory of Serious Business.

"Well, you've been whining about it only forever, so I thought, for the sake of my sanity, I should take you up on it." He responds smoothly, gaining back lost ground. Casey stares at him askance. Boy, does he really know how to put on a show and act like everything is fucking okay.

"Then you would have done that years ago. Don't disrespect my intelligence and lie to me." She says politely all the while feeling like a crumbling cookie inside.

"You want me to be a brother, so I'm trying." He says, and even though he looks her in the eyes, and all of a sudden, she can see fours years' worth of weariness in there. There's no sparkle and glint, there's just dull brown eyes, looking back at her.

"We both know, we'll never be siblings." She says quietly, finally voicing the truth that has been plaguing them both for the past four years, beginning from when George said that they would all be one big happy blended family to until today where they are anything but happy and still working on the blended aspect.

(See, the thing is everyone else is happy, except for them and everyone else is blended, except for them. But the most agonizing part, no one even notices.)

"But _you_ asked, and that's why I'm trying." Her eyes fill up with tears over that because is that what this was all about, this stupid stalemate, this limbo, all because she asked him to be like a brother?

She asked it just so that he at least couldn't hate her for being there. Not because she wants him to be a brother. She has Edwin for that. Brothers and sisters don't hijack bathrooms and brothers and sisters definitely don't take a much too personal interest in the dating lives of their siblings. And most of all, brother and sisters definitely do not have a weird unresolved tension between them, the existence of which scares the shit out of her.

He sighs in this _tiredtired_ manner and comes closer and wipes away her tears. His voice mechanically tells her that he's too hard-hearted to be swayed by tears but his fingers tell a different story as they gently wipe away the tears from her cheeks.

"I don't want you to be a brother." She hiccups and then tries to wipe away her tears and stop her nose from sniffling. He politely offer her a box of tissues and she takes them, mumbling watery thanks. God, this is embarrassing. She didn't need to breakdown like this in front of him. She just wanted to do it in a calm and collected manner and she could away, with at least her dignity intact. Instead here's she sitting in her, sniffling and blubbering in a chair, while he sits across her, all calm and composed.

(For once couldn't have God answered her prayers. Really, she's not asking for a lot.)

"Are you sure?" he asks in a strangled voice and she looks up quickly to see a slow blush beginning to spread across his face. And through her tears she smiles, glad that she's not the only one being stripped of her dignity because Derek Venturi does not blush, except he's blushing now. Ha!

She nods furiously and suddenly before she knows it, he's shepherded her out of the room, tears and tissues and all.

"8 o'clock tomorrow morning, see you in the bathroom." He says cheerily, before shutting the door on her. And though she's a bit bemused, she smiles widely, tears stained face and red nose and all, forgotten.

The balance of things has finally been restored.

-

She goes to the room and she lies on her bed, trying to go to sleep but she can't because, _someone_ in the next room is hopping around and wait, she can even hear squealing. She smiles before shutting her eyes and drifting off into dream land.

These walls really are much too thin.

* * *

Sorry for the late update and the slight OOC'ness. Real life caught up and stupid ff. net didn't help either with its lameness. See, I sorta got out of the limbo, even though not fully. It's better to have one foot in rather than two right? And no offence is intended to anyone with the views of the characters. They are merely plot devices and I in no way mean any disrespect.

Anyhow, I think there are at the most two more chapters to the end. :)


	7. Revelation

rev⋅e⋅la⋅tion** - **[rev-_uh_-ley-sh_uh_n] ; noun - something revealed or disclosed, esp. a striking disclosure, as of something not before realized.

-

--in which Derek AND Casey listen to a _revelation_ (can you say what?)--

-

Derek for the past few days has been oddly contemplative. And it's been showing. He hasn't whacked Edwin on the head as yet—and it's been a week and six days, he hasn't called Casey Klutzilla even once, he hasn't shoveled food down his throat as if it were going out of style, he hasn't once given George or Lassie grief—and both of them are getting very antsy and there's a whole other bunch of things he hasn't done. And it's throwing everyone out of stride. Edwin cant sit down without looking around frantically, expecting Derek to come jumping out of some corner and whack the beejezus out of him, George and Lassie keep chewing their nails (for real, and they don't even know it!) and Nora is worried that her cooking has gone from bad to worse.

(Is she accidentally food poisoning Derek or something?)

Of course the only other person who isn't worried or antsy is Casey. And normally it should ring a loud bell with the tinny sound ringing loud afterwards in everyone's ears but since they are all so on the edge, nobody even thinks about it.

Casey too has been thoughtful. However it doesn't seem to be throwing everyone off as Derek's is doing but still it arouses someone's suspicion. Basically Edwin's. He can't stand this constant nervousness. Anymore nervousness and he's going to go berserk and hold someone hostage at rotten apple point.

So he thinks and thinks and thinks.

One by one, carefully and slowly he puts pieces together.

It was painstaking and arduous and in between constantly looking over his shoulder and not eating and sleeping, he ploughed on because the end result was that wonderful prize, sanity.

And at the end of a week and six days, it struck him.

With painful and stunning clarity.

Painful because as a result of his revelation, he fell off his bed and landed on his tailbone and stunning because, how did he not see this coming?

How could he have been such an idiot?

-

Derek and Casey are having a stare off. Actually they are both sitting in Derek's room, wanting to say something quite desperately –and it's on the tip of their tongues but once abundant words which always seemed profuse and plenty now seem scarce. It's unlike anything they have ever experienced before. Because solitude is not their thing, just as normal will never be their word.

(Dysfunctional fits just right though.)

Edwin bursts into the room and when Derek is about to calmly throw him out by the scruff of his neck; he holds up a hand and pleads his case. Casey on the other hand is worried. Edwin looks downright dreadful, with dark circles under his eyes and hollow cheeks.

"I have something to say. It took me a week and six days to figure and I'll be damned if I don't get it off my chest." Edwin says in a hoarse voice.

"Are you alright Ed?" Casey asks worriedly.

"Peachy keen," Ed replies with a happy laugh. And Derek's blinks once in confusion. Could Edweirdo get any weirder? He hadn't thought it possible but Edwin has just gone ahead and proved him wrong.

"See, there's thing called UST. It stands for unresolved sexual tension between two people." Derek gets up and Edwin once again holds up a hand. "I will finish my thing and then get out of here like a bat out of hell. Just give me a five minute jumpstart for a sporting chance before you beat me to pulp. But for now, let me talk. Uninterrupted." Derek shrugs and sits down. At the end there's Ed bashing up to do. As long as there's that, he's cool.

"So like I was saying, there's thing called UST. What George and Nora didn't realize when they were getting married was that by putting together two more or less Type- A personality people together, they basically had a powder keg UST situation on their hands.

See, usually we have been brought up to believe that opposites attract. And you may both be thinking, two Type – A 's—by the way they are also called dominant personalities— how in the hell could they get together. But that's where you are wrong. The two eldest kids, Casey and Derek were broth dominant personalities. And until their respective parents were unmarried, they were boss in their own homes. But when their respective parents got together, they could no longer be the top dogs or something like that so to speak. They had to contend with another person who seemed as just as determined as them to have their own way. Making any sense?" Edwin asks pointedly. Casey's blushing and Derek's trying to look like he doesn't care and he's failing.

"So, since these two people found each other that tested them and annoyed them a great deal, they had to sit up and take notice of each other. The guy was annoyed at first. This keener girl with her lack of cool thought she could boss him around. And moreover, she even had the gall to make him feel guilty and worry about stuff. And no one made him do that, except for a certain little sister of course." Here Edwin threw a dry look at Derek who was trying to subtly squirm. Casey was grinning.

"The girl was annoyed too. She was all about feminism and being yourself and not throwing yourself at boys who had no respect for the girl. So naturally, this new step brother of hers scandalized her and aggravated her. He ran through girls like water, was rude and overbearing and moreover, he didn't get the fact that it was okay to ask for a higher grades. He was a slacker of course so she didn't expect him to understand. But it still annoyed her every time he called her name—and believe me; he called her many a name.

As you can see, at the start, everything wasn't paradise for this not so lovely couple who basically kept their whole family on the edge with their _will they, wont they_ nonsense and never ending fights but slowly enough there was a change. The family began to notice that the fights seemed a little forced and the banter was a little more erm, _racy_ and that the bathrooms always seemed to be occupied at the same time. They thought, "ohmygod, these two lunkheads _finally_ figured out what there was between them, but that was not so. As it turns out, these two lunkheads still hadn't established the change of status quo between them. Instead, they were waiting and thinking because apparently they couldn't find the words to say what they wanted to say and that was what was throwing everyone in the house and their school principle into a tizzy."

Derek and Casey couldn't even look at each other and it made Edwin wonder. They could look at each other half naked but talk of feelings and suddenly the whole room was filled with Uncomfortable Tension. It fulfilled his theory though, that at the end of the day, Derek and Casey were erm, a very physical couple. God, that made him giggle like a little girl. Anyhow, back to business.

"So here goes. I'll break it down for you. You are Derek," he pointed at Derek, "You are Casey," he pointed at Casey, "and both of you have been love with each other ever since George and Nora got married. You figured it out with your trysts in the bathroom –and really we aren't that stupid, we just thought that was your way of hashing it out—and name calling and general hate of anyone who happened to date the other, even Sam and Sally. And now that you've done that, please for the love of god end this limbo and accept what everyone already knows, that both of you _love_ each other." Edwin looks around and drops into a chair exhausted. Speaking volubly is so not his thing. That's reserved for George and Casey.

"And one more thing. You both are meant to be. And I rest my case. Please excuse the shoddy work but a summation of your antagonistic history would have taken me at least a few months and I was working with only approximately ten hours of sleep. Of course, if you do want a full history, please contact Liz, she's my agent and we'll work something out. And I'm out." And with that Edwin takes a bow and heads out of the room.

"So, girlfriend?" Derek asks casually and Casey chokes for a minute—there's so much she wants to say but for once, she's going to go with the flow—and she nods happily.

"Do you want to make out before you run off to catch Edwin?" she asks playfully and before she knows it, there's Derek and there's her and the whole room feels a whole lot hotter than usual. It's the spark of UST finally coming to life. And as cheesy as that sounds, it's the goddamned truth.

"You know what, chuck Edwin. I have waited four effing years for this. I need my time." Derek says with an attempt at not looking giddy with delight before capturing Casey's lips once more.

And Casey smiles against his lips. It's been four years.

Four fucking long years.

Finally.

* * *

I know. Three months. I don't know if anyone is till reading this anymore but if you are I profusely apologize. I lost my drive for this story and being a person who gets very easily distracted is of no help either. I decided today that I would finish it because more than anything, I hate being that author who has like bazillion unfinished stories on her account –I have a few and they are making me go mental. I am not very happy with this chapter but then again I don't think I will ever be. I've had the idea for months and writing it out only shows me all the flaws which I just can't seem to fix. However, it is the way I wanted to end. That being said, I just want to say thank you to everyone who ever reviewed or alerted this story. Your reviews did put a big smile on my face. :)

Also happy Deepavali! (I'm not supposed to be on the computer today cause I'm supposed to be celebrating the festival but really, I am so badass that I got on to the computer anyways.) ;)


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